


who, who are you really?

by faeded



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Artificial Intelligence AU, M/M, and it says kinda because i didn't watch the show, but this is what i wrote so, firefly setting au (kinda), free space, like is the whole ai fitting with the show? idk, so it's more of inspired from what i read in wiki about the show than anything else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26126434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faeded/pseuds/faeded
Summary: On a list of the most stupid things he's done, he's pretty sure following known rebels Kevin Day and Andrew Minyard might get the top spot - And he's done enough stupid things to last him a lifetime.(or: neil josten is the latest recruit and the foxes are part of a resistance.)
Relationships: Kevin Day & Neil Josten, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	who, who are you really?

**Author's Note:**

> for some reason, i saw 'firefly' and thought: ah, the show, let's write of that despite not having watched it. so this happened after reading the summary of the wiki. i kept things pretty vague because i haven't watched it, but, again: i might have messed something up, and it was more 'getting some inspiration from it' than actually basing myself on it (because, again: haven't watched it). this is also unbetaed but i'm posting it before i kept doubting myself even more and this never sees the light of day, so: here it is!
> 
> (the title comes from 'who are you really?' by mikky ekko and it might be too in the nose, but i spent way too much time searching for a title so)

“Hernandez, it’s done!”

Wiping his hands on the rag he had on his shoulders, Neil listened as footsteps approached where he was leaning against a wall. A moment later, Hernandez entered the room and started inspecting his work. He almost felt offended, except he knew the mechanic cared about the rebellion too much for him not to check. Besides, it was not as if he knew that Neil was not completely human and so would not make the mistakes he was searching for unless on purpose. Some use had come from his father’s work, at the very least.

Hernandez had been a supporter of the rebellion for as long as he had existed, and his shop had turned into one of the places rebels knew they could ask for help if need be as soon as he had set it up. He made sure to lower prices or accept trades when he needed parts and the other person had no money to pay with. It was a risky move, Neil had thought, especially considering how Hernandez had this shop connected to his personal home.

Neil knew he was being stupid staying with him. He had told himself he was still with him because Millport was a small planet no one ever thought about, at the edge of the system and part of those that had lost while fighting for their Independence, and he was simply resting before he continued running.He could use his skills to have a roof above his head and a meal at least twice a day. Besides, while there was a chance of Alliance officers being on the planet, it was less likely than anywhere else, so remaining at the edge of the system was one of his better options if he wanted to avoid them.

(And, from anywhere else, it was the planets at the edge of the system were a cyborg such as himself had the least possibility of being recognized.)

But the truth was, he knew he was convincing himself and he should have packed and left the second he saw Hernandez ushering a member of the Rebellion inside his shop. There was absolutely no reason as to why he decided to stay where he was, in silent understanding with the mechanic after he had looked at him when the rebel was inside. He had taken a risk by letting him see, of course, but it wasn’t as if Neil could go to a patrol to report him. Not that he knew that, either, but as luck had had it, Hernandez had chosen to hire someone who had even more interest than anyone else in the galaxy to stay far away from authorities.

Despite all of what he knew, he hadn’t left. When he bothered to think about it, he was aware that he had stayed because he was tired, and wanted to stay somewhere, stop running for once in his life. Still, there was a part inside him that could not ignore the memory of his mother’s body set on fire, dead after an encounter with his father’s people. His promises to his mother stopped him from doing anything more than what he was doing right now, but he hadn’t been able to resist the temptation of stopping and resting for once. If he also did that in the house of someone who wanted to destroy the Alliance? Well, that was nobody’s business.

Now, as he waited for Hernandez to approve of his work, he used the time to closely follow the movements of the men who had entered after Hernandez. The sight of the two men had almost made him bolt and run for his life when he had seen them enter the shop, but he had forced himself to stay still, and when Kevin Day’s eyes went over him without a spark of recognition, he had forced himself to relax. Andrew Minyard was a silent shadow at his back, radiating protectiveness, but he had no intention of approaching them, so Minyard was not the one who worried him.

(No matter that the underground whispers talked of him as one of the deadliest weapons the Rebellion had these days. Considering the fact that the Rebellion had barely been surviving for years, scrambling to simply not be wiped off the face of the galaxy, it wasn’t a hard title to earn in comparison.)

“I think everything’s fine, kid,” Hernandez finally said, and Neil resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew everything was fine, and he was about to open his mouth to answer when the shooting started. “Down!” Hernandez shouted suddenly, before letting out a gasp and a wet sound a moment afterwards.

Shit, shit, shit. This was just his luck, he thought, as he let himself fall to the ground and take refuge behind a scrap. He fumbled for his laser gun, a litany of insults still going on on his mind, before peering above the scrap to try and find where the lasers were coming from. Ah, he thought, the house. Hernandez had left the door to the garage open when he returned to check his work.

(The mechanic had been helping the Rebellion for years before this, but of course it would be just his luck that he would be found while he was with him)

When the shooting stopped for a second, Neil raised quickly enough to fire towards the figure at the hallway, watching it stumble and crouching down as quickly as he could. From the side, he could see Minyard putting himself in front of Kevin, aiming towards the door as another officer approached, and hitting them in the small space the protective gear left exposed in the head. Neil was almost impressed.

It took several more minutes until the flow of people had been reduced enough that they could finally rest. He could hear his heart beating a thousand miles a minute, but he forced himself to inspect the situation in front of them. Between him and Andrew, they had been firing enough that nobody had been able to enter the shop, but he could hear some people from the outside. Neil wasn’t sure whether they were there because he had been recognized, or because someone had spotted the most recognizable members of the Rebellion and sold them out. He didn’t know and he didn’t think he wanted to know either.

He turned his attention towards his arm, where a laser had come enough to graze. He had been lucky at moving just in time, or maybe the aiming hadn’t been the best, or perhaps it had been a combination of both things, but it had still left a wound that had been bleeding since then. For all that his father had heightened his senses, and changed the way his brain worked, he was still human enough that he would bleed when hurt. It would heal quicker than usual, but he still needed to bandage the wound quickly if he wanted to leave without much hassle. He could probably leave using the backwards entrance, and maybe if he had luck he would manage to hide long enough to avoid them, and get a ride out of this planet as soon as possible.

He moved towards where they kept their first aid things, throwing alcohol unto the wound and clenching his teeth at the burning sensation, and then quickly started wrapping up the wound before he felt a hand in his arm. 

The sensation made him jump, instinctively searching for a weapon as he turned around only to see it was Kevin who had approached him. Preoccupied as he was with wrapping his wound as quickly as possible, he hadn’t heard him approach him.

“Come with us,” he said, and it’s enough to make him stop, the bandage sagging against his arm at not being tied up as he stared at him. He feared once again that Kevin had remembered him, but there is still not a flicker of recognition going on behind Kevin’s eyes, just determination.

“Excuse me?” he finally asked, after what seemed forever but was most likely only a few moments. “You don’t know me.”

“You’re so stupid,” he heard Minyard mutter from behind.

“I saw you shoot. We could use that sort of talent,” Kevin continued, ignoring Andrew save for shooting him a glare before he went on. “You would have to work with us, but we brought them,” he motioned towards the outside, where they could still hear the remaining patrol officers, who were probably expecting the rest of the officers to be appearing soon with them on tow. “Towards you. So come with us. What else are you going to do?”

Well, when he put it that way.

“Fine,” Neil said after another moment. “Give me a second to finish this,” he turned back towards his wound, cleaning it once more and tying the bandage. Behind him, he could hear Minyard get into the ship as he prepared for launch, so he used the time to grab his bag from the locked cabinet where he kept his things and throw a few more things for cleaning his wound later.

He glanced around to see that Kevin had already entered the ship, so he approached Hernandez’s body to look for the key that opened the front of the store, and with a last look to his boss, he entered the ship. Minyard was making the last adjustments, closing the door in order to leave, so when he got a nod from him, he pressed the key, setting down in one of the seats behind the pilot and leaving his bag at his feet.

It would be fine. He just had to stay with them as long as it took for him to get out of Millport and when they were distracted he would slip off and continue running as he should have been doing in the first place. From the look that gave him Andrew a moment before he took off, though, he knew he also had to make sure to appear as harmless as possible to him. There was no reason as to why they would discover who he was - And what.

Everything would be fine.


End file.
